Interim SAISD chief sets deadline to find replacement

Updated 12:12 pm, Monday, March 11, 2013

Interim SAISD chief Sylvester Perez set a July 1 deadline but later said he would be “open to further discussions” if trustees failed to agree on a finalist.

Interim SAISD chief Sylvester Perez set a July 1 deadline but later said he would be “open to further discussions” if trustees failed to agree on a finalist.

Photo: Express-News File Photo

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Board President Ed Garza (from left) speculated at the time Sylvester Perez was hired that the board could find a permanent superintendent by June 2012. He later revised his projections.

Board President Ed Garza (from left) speculated at the time Sylvester Perez was hired that the board could find a permanent superintendent by June 2012. He later revised his projections.

Photo: JUANITO M GARZA, San Antonio Express-News

Interim SAISD chief sets deadline to find replacement

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A year after Sylvester Perez was named interim superintendent of San Antonio Independent School District by a board that promised a swift but exhaustive search for a permanent leader, he's in limbo and has told trustees he'll quit if they don't choose a new leader soon.

Frustrated because the superintendent search appears to be stalled, he set a July 1 deadline — then offered to negotiate.

He's still waiting for an answer.

“I feel like I'm starting to resemble the fiscal cliff,” Perez said recently after a search firm helped narrow applicants for the permanent job to three finalists — and trustees couldn't settle on any of them. “At some point, we need to bring closure to this issue.”

In the wake of the board's indecisive meeting, Perez sent trustees two emails that he said were meant to spur action.

Obtained by the San Antonio Express-News, the first — called “resignation draft letter” — stipulated a July 1 deadline for his departure, sooner if the board picks someone before that date.

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In the email, Perez reminded trustees that good superintendent candidates are “interviewing & examining not only our District, but YOU, the trustees. So, I would strongly suggest that we all reflect on that image.”

But in the second email, sent hours later, Perez softened his position, saying he would be “open to further discussions” if trustees were not unanimous or failed to agree on a sole finalist.

School board President Ed Garza was vague when asked if Perez's deadline was adding to pressure on the board to find a new superintendent.

“His contract states that he is our interim until we find and hire a superintendent, so the dialogue of timelines is really a conversation that the board and him have, so we can develop a framework to establish milestones,” Garza said. “Sometimes we meet them, sometimes we don't.”

The emails set off rumors — among them, that Perez had been angling for the top job all along and that he threatened to resign after not being formally considered.

Perez called the rumors bogus but said he would be open to talking with trustees about a contract for up to two years if they need more time finding a candidate.

Stay? Or go?

Perez, who celebrated his 64th birthday last month, was brought out of retirement to take the job. A San Antonio native and Harlandale High School graduate, the former Midland ISD superintendent — with his cowboy boots and slight drawl — was an easy pick to temporarily lead the city's third-largest school district.

He was a contender for the top job years earlier when trustees hired Robert Durón, who stepped down as superintendent last February after tension with trustees spilled out in public meetings.

Garza speculated then that the board could find a new leader by June 2012 but revised his projections after hiring PROACT, a search firm.

At community meetings last fall, some speakers suggested the new leader should be attentive and supportive — like Perez.

Trustees repeatedly have lauded Perez for raising morale, and they have cited their confidence in him as a reason to take their time in conducting a thorough search.

But after failing to pick from the three finalists Feb. 11, trustees today are still no closer to a new superintendent — and Perez says there might be advantages to the search if he stayed a while longer.

Prospective applicants might be dissuaded from applying for the job with May board elections looming and a bond program that won't be completed for a couple more years, he pointed out.

The school district took on a $515 million bond issue voters approved in November 2010 — one of three that trustees hope to pass that involve consolidating campuses.

Enrollment has steadily declined in the 54,000-student district over the years, but school officials said the drop has leveled off.

Trustee Debra Guerrero, who said she thought Perez's emails simply reaffirmed his commitment to stay until the district finds a permanent leader, brushed aside the idea that the elections and bond might hinder the search.

“The dynamic is similar to anything in life — is it ever a good time to have a baby? Is it ever a good time to change jobs?” Guerrero said recently. “Any leader that we select should be able to adapt to challenges like a change in (board) leadership.”

A few trustees were reluctant to comment on Perez's offer to stay, noting he had not formally approached them about negotiating a contract.

SAISD parent Celina Peña said the trustees' inaction is beginning to resemble their indecisiveness about Durón's contract during the final months of his tenure.

“To me when I see the lukewarm-ness of everything that's happening in SAISD, it means that nothing is going to happen,” she said.

Next steps

On March 18, representatives from PROACT are planning to present trustees with a new list of semifinalists. Garza said Thursday the search firm was tasked with going back to the original pool of candidates and reaching out to those whom trustees wanted to interview but hadn't applied.

The names of candidates are supposed to be kept private to protect their current jobs. But the active recruitment of at least one superintendent, Daniel P. King of the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD in the Rio Grande Valley, was leaked last month.

“Information became public that really shouldn't have been,” trustee Patti Radle said.

Covering a wide swath of the inner city, SAISD gets a fair amount of attention from major business and civic leaders.

Public trust has been an issue for the district, whose board has held team-building sessions with a private consultant hired by H-E-B grocery chief Charles Butt that were intended to unify its members as they sought to attract candidates.

Garza wouldn't comment on whether King was being recruited.

“I think there's always going to be information and rumors,” he said. “It's up to the board to maintain the integrity of the process.”

Butch Felkner, director of executive search services with the Texas Association of School Boards, said school districts the size of SAISD typically take about six months from the start of a superintendent search to candidate selection.

It's been nine months since PROACT was hired. But Garza said he “starts the clock” when PROACT began actively contacting candidates, which he said was four months ago.

“At this point, we're asking people to be supportive of a board that's trying to make the right decision,” he said. “I think we would be criticized if we did it quick and people would think that it was an inside deal.”

As for Perez, the interim chief said he's happy to stay or happy to go.

“I have a 95-year-old dad, an 88-year-old mom, five grandkids and a job with (the University of Texas at Austin)” he said. “I can stay really busy with that.”

mcesar@express-news.net

Twitter: @mlcesar

An earlier version of this article misidentified SAISD interim superintendent Sylvester Perez's high school alma mater. He was a graduate of Harlandale High School.